when turtle grew feathers: a tale from the choctaw nation... · when turtle grew feathers...

Second Grade

When Turtle Grew Feathers: A Tale from the Choctaw Nation Retold by Tim Tingle Illustrated by Stacey Schuett

Outcome: Students will learn about the Choctaw, a Native American tribe.

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About the Book:

Guided Reading: M

Lexile Level: 590L

Character Traits: Caring

Respect

Resourcefulness

Region: USA, Native American

ISBN: 978-0-8748-3777-3 978-1-9391-6021-8

Materials: • Paper, pencils • Map of the United States • Large sheets of paper or poster board • Markers • Scissors • Brass paper fasteners (to make game spinners) • Small tokens to be used as game markers • “Animal Similes” worksheet • Unlined paper • Graph paper (optional) • End rolls of newsprint paper • 7 inch paper plates • Yarn or thin ribbon cut into 10 inch and 72 inch pieces • Beads • Feathers • Hole punch • Taper • Ruler

When Turtle Grew Feathers


Second Grade

Instructional Plan Introduction Directions:

• Explain that students will be reading a folktale of the Choctaw Indians:

o Storytelling is a popular form of entertainment for many Native American societies.

o There are many stories about their ancestors, heroes, and animals and including turtles, rabbits, birds, raccoons, birds and wolves.

o Native American folktales and tribal stories are passed down by word of mouth from tribe elders who are known as “wisdom keepers.” These stories are used to teach children about the world around them and how to get along with one another.

o Many Choctaw people live in Mississippi and Oklahoma (show on map).

o Most Choctaw people speak English today. Some people also speak their native Choctaw language

§ Halito (“hah-lih’-toh”) is a friendly greeting § Yakoke (yah-koh’-keh) means thank you

Teacher Reads the Story Directions:

• Teacher passes the book around the class and asks students to each read one page of the story and to show the picture on that page to the class.

Questions for Assessing Students’ Comprehension: • Who are the main characters in the story? • Where is the story set? • What is the conflict? How is it resolved? • Why did Turkey step on Turtle? • What happened to Turtle? • How did Turtle react when Turkey did not take responsibility for

breaking his shell? • Why was Turtle upset that his shell was broken?

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RL.2.10 Readandcomprehendliterature

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7

Useinformationviaillustrationsandtext

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.4

Tellastoryorrecountanexperiencewithappropriatefacts



Second Grade

Questions for Assessing Students’ Comprehension Continued:

• What did Turkey do to fix Turtle’s shell? Who did he get to help? How did they help?

• What did Turkey do to help the ants? • Why did Turtle let Turkey try on his shell? • What role did the five Little Bitty Turtles play in the story? • What did Turtle say when Rabbit challenged him to race? • Why did Rabbit get mad at Turtle when Turtle said, “Get it on”? • Where were they going to race? • What did Rabbit do when Turkey took off in flight? • How far had Rabbit gone when Turkey finished circling the lake? • What did Rabbit say after the race?

Questions for Interpretation: • Why is the story called, When Turtle Grew Feathers? • How did Turtle grow feathers? • When you first heard the title of the story, what did you think it

would be about? • What did Turtle mean when he said that his shell “shattered like

glass”? • Turtle told Turkey that they should “call a truce.” What does that

mean? • Why do you think Turtle did not want to fight with Turkey? • Have you ever called a truce with anyone? • Do you think that it was Turtle’s or Rabbit’s fault that Turtle’s

shell was broken? • Do you think that a turtle can really climb out of its shell? • What does it mean to say, “You’re acting like a turkey?” How

does this relate to the story? • The author said that Turkey strutted across the finish line. Why

do you think he chose the word “strutted?”

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RL.2.1 Askandanswerquestionstodemonstrateunderstanding


Describehowcharactersrespondtoeventsandchallenges


Acknowledgedifferencesincharacters'pointofviews

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.SL.2.3 Askandanswerquestionsaboutwhataspeakerssays



Second Grade

Questions for Interpretation Continued: • After the race, Rabbit hung his ears and hopped off to hide. How

did he feel? • Why do you think Rabbit challenged Turtle? What animals would

he avoid challenging to a race? • Rabbit never challenged Turtle again. Do you think he

challenged any other animals? • What lesson does this folktale teach? • What lesson did Rabbit learn? Turtle? Turkey? • What lesson did the five Little Bitty Turtles learn? • How do the pictures help to tell the story? • Why does the author end the story by saying, “Now the story is

yours”?

Follow Up Activities: Story Re-Write Directions:

• Since this story is a folktale, there are many different version of it. • Students re-write the story by choosing one of the following

options: o Create another ending. o Use different animals as the characters.

• Share story re-writes with the class. Newspaper Article Directions:

• Students pretend that they are newspaper reporters covering the race between Turtle and Rabbit.

• Write three questions that you would ask each character. • Write a newspaper article about the race. Remember to include

who, what, when, where, why and how. • Draw a picture to go along with the article. • Share articles with the class.

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RL.2.1 Askandanswerquestionstodemonstrateunderstanding

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.5

Focusontopicandstrengthenwritingbyrevisingandediting


Writeinformativetexts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F

Produce,expandandrearrangecompletesentences



Second Grade

Follow Up Activities: The Great Debate Directions:

• Reread the beginning of the story when Turtle’s shell breaks. • Ask the class whose fault it was. • Divide the class into groups of 4 members. • 2 members in each group take the position that it was Turkey’s

fault that he stepped on Turtle’s shell. • The other 2 members take the position that it was Turtle’s fault

that Turkey stepped on him. • Each side prepares arguments. • 4 students (2 on each side) debate each round. • Class discusses the debates and votes if it was Turkey’s fault or

Turtle’s fault. • Optional: Create a bar graph to display results.

Design a Board Game Directions:

• Teacher divides class into small groups. • Students brainstorm ideas for a board game about the story. • Students create the game and teach classmates how to play.

Haiku Directions:

• Tell students that they will summarize the story as a Haiku. o A Haiku is a 3-lined, unrhymed Japanese verse, usually

written in the present tense. o The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7

syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables. • Share Haiku’s with the class. • Teacher provides an example for students having difficulty with

the activity. Example: Rabbit wants to race / Turkey’s in Turtle’s shell / Rabbit learns lesson.

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.SL.2.1 Participateincollaborativeconversations

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.A Followagreed-uponrulesfordiscussions

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.C Askforclarificationandfurtherexplanation

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.B Buildonothers'talkinconversations


Participateinsharedresearchandwritingprojects



Follow Up Activities: Similes Directions:

• Teacher reminds students of the following in the story: o Turtle said, “My shell is shattered like glass.” o Later he said his shell was as good as new. o Rabbit’s eyes were as big as Little Bitty Turtle shells.

• Explain that when writing a story or poem, imagery is very important. Similes help create imagery by comparing objects or ideas using “like” or “as.” For example: “Green as grass” or “Good as gold.”

• Students complete the “Animal Similes” worksheet. • Students discuss their answers. Many of the similes can be

completed with more than one animal as a correct answer. Math Activities Directions:

• Students use the following information to create graphs representing animal size and weight.

o Turtles range in size from time 3-inch bog turtles to 9-foot long leatherbacks.

o Turkeys range in size. Gobblers (male turkeys) weigh up to 18-pounds. Hens (female turkeys) weigh half as much as males.

o A full-grown cottontail rabbit may be 16-inches long. A full-grown jackrabbit may be 24-inches long.

• Use a large end roll of newsprint to draw the animal to size. Animal Speed Directions:

• Inform students that a rabbit can hop along at about 27 miles per hour. A tortoise covers just 2/10 of a mile in an hour.

• Students demonstrate a race between a rabbit and a tortoise to show the difference in their speed.

Second Grade

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.L.2.1.E Useadjectivesandadverbs

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5

Demonstrateunderstandingofwordrelationships

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F

Produce,expandandrearrangecompletesentences


Participateinsharedresearchandwritingprojects



Follow Up Activities: Collective Nouns Directions:

• Remind students that after Turkey broke Turtle’s shell, an army of ants paraded by.

• Explain that collective nouns are groups of nouns such as an army of ants, a bunch of bananas, or a cluster of grapes.

• Read the collective nouns aloud; students complete the phrase:

Compare and Contrast Directions:

• Read “That Tricky Rabbit” on page 67 of Tales of Tricksters (Pleasant DeSpain). This is a Native American tale about a trickster rabbit who competes with a wolf for the attention of a girl. Compare and contrast to When Turtle Grew Feathers.

• Read “Tiger Daces to Turtle’s Tune” on page 38 of Sing Me a Story (Grace Hallworth). This tale tells of a turtle who was not invited to Tiger’s party, because Tiger thought he was too small and weak. The clever turtle shows Tiger that he can entice all of Tiger’s guests with song and dance. Compare and contrast to When Turtle Grew Feathers.

• Find and read other versions of The Tortoise and the Hare. Make Indian Dream Catchers Directions:

• Many Native Americans believe that good and bad dreams float around at night. A dream catcher filters the dreams.

• Bad dreams are caught and held until they disappear with the sunrise.

• Good dreams float through the web, down the feather and land on the person asleep underneath.

Second Grade

Common Core

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.L.2.1.A Usecollectivenouns


Compare/contrasttwoormoreversionsofthesamestory


Recountstoriesanddeterminetheirlessonormoral



Follow Up Activities: Make Indian Dream Catchers Continued Directions:

• Using a ruler, measure out 4-inch in the center of 7-inch paper plates. Rim should be 1½ inches.

• Punch 8 holes, equally spaced, around rim of plate. • Three a 72-inch piece of yarn through a hole and tape short end

of yarn to back of plate. • Wrap another length of tape around the end of the yarn to keep

from unraveling. • Thread yarn through the inside of the plate and bring the thread

through the adjacent hole from back of plate to front. • Continue threading until yarn weaves through all of the holes.

This completes the first row. • Pull the thread somewhat tight to remove slack from the design.

Make sure plate stays flat. • Continuing in a spiral and working the same direction, thread the

yarn through the first loop created to begin the second row. Each row working toward the center will be smaller than the previous row.

• Continue threading until second row is completed. Occasionally place a bead on the loose end of the yard and thread into design.

• Thread yarn through the first loop of the second arrow to start the third row. Thread until third row is complete.

• Thread yarn through first loop of third row to start fourth row. Thread until fourth row is complete.

• Cut off excess so that yarn can hang from design 12-15 inches. • Thread beads and tie feathers to the bottom of yarn. • Loop the 10-inch piece of yarn through a hole opposite the

feathers and tie in a knot to make a loop for hanging. • Students take the dream catcher home and place over bed. • Optional: Students write a story about their dreams.

Second Grade



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Animal Similes

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